Leading sustainability transformation

Many multinational corporations have made the pursuit of sustainability and commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) standard practice. However, the continued pressure for positive quarterly financial performance makes it difficult to steer companies on a course that serves the planet as well as corporate results. In this chapter we explore how global leadership makes sense of and responds to the conflicting requirements and tensions that contribute to the salience of so-called sustainability paradoxes. We start by looking at the tension between maintaining a healthy planet and growing the global economy. We will make the point that the global economy’s (and humanity’s) long-term existence depends on the ability of ecosystems to regenerate themselves. We then present a model that illustrates the relationships between global leadership responses to sustainability paradoxes and discuss possible proactive responses to sustainability transformation.